Customer Reviews

The Imperfect Homeschooler's Guide to Homeschooling: A 20-Year Homeschool Veteran Reveals How to Teach Your Kids, Run Your Home and Overcome the Inevitable Challenges of the Homeschooling Life

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am what most would consider a "veteran" homeschooler - 10 years into it, but I always love learning new things! I truly enjoyed Barbara's book. The title is what caught my attention - I suffer from perfection-itis. If I can't do something perfectly, I usually try and avoid it - bad habit and one I am trying to break. Like my favorite mentor, Flylady, says: "Housework done incorrectly still blesses your family" - well, after reading Barbara's book, I realize that "Homeschooling done imperfectly still creates a bond with your children, is taylored to fit their needs, and is really probably better than the alternatives!" I especially was grateful for her insight into special needs homeschooling. Thank you, Barbara, for sharing your heart with us!

I'm in my 5th year of homeschooling and I was looking for some encouragement to renew my enthusiasm about homeschooling and help me balance homeschooling and the rest of our lives better.

I found that and more in this book!

When I first got the book in the mail, I was a little worried looking at the table of contents that it was more for beginning homeschoolers and that I wouldn't find much help in the book. I was *wrong*.

The author has lots of fresh ideas to make homeschooling work well no matter what obstacles we face. I thought many of her ideas were pure genius and she helped me look at things in a different way than I had before, which was very helpful.

She also helped me renew my commitment to homeschooling and she helped me remember all the great reasons I started this crazy journey to begin with - which is important to remember to avoid burn out.

I think this book is well worth the money and any homeschooler will find ideas and information inside that will be helpful to them - no matter how long they've been homeschooling!

Have you thought about homeschooling your kids? Are you a grandparent who doesn't want your grandkids homeschooled? Have you been homeschooling your kids, but are wondering whether or not to continue doing so? Do you wonder if you're doing the right thing for your kids? If any of these apply to you or if you just wonder how in the world anyone could homeschool their kids..........this is the book for you.

The title of the book lives up to all it promises. The author writes in a friendly, highly positive, down-to-earth and encouraging style. Reading it is like sitting down for a cup of coffee with a good friend. A friend who knows what you're going through. And she has. She has homeschooled her own children, including a "special needs" child with Downs Syndrome.

She covers:
*Confessions of an Imperfect Homeschooler
*Homeschooling 101
*Teaching Specific Subjects
*Teaching Techniques and Ideas
*Covering All the Bases
*Overcoming Obstacles to Homeschooling
*Coping with Changes and Challenges
*On the Home Front

She makes it clear that you don't have to be perfect....all you have to be is what your child needs. She gives the the tools, the confidence and the pep talks to do so. I wish I had found this book when I first started homeschooling, but her help is still invaluable even now.

Homeschooling is not right for everyone. But it is right for a LOT of people. Know yourself, be honest with what you want for your kids. There is not one right way to teach your kids (and the public school system doesn't want you to realize that). Children are not cookie cutter kids and they deserve more than a cookie cutter education. It's not easy some days. But it is very rewarding and a wonderful option. It can be as complicated or as simple as you make it.

Do you think you must have a college degree to teach your child? Realize now that having a college degree does not automatically make someone an educator. Nor does having a college degree automatically mean someone else knows what's best for your child. Think back to when you were in school. How many teachers did you have that were really good and really inspired you? How many guidance counselors did you have who really guided you? In my case, those outstanding people were a small minority. Knowledge is everywhere in this world.....but inspiration? That is far rarer.

Buy and read this book. Really examine yourself, question yourself, think about your kids AND.......As Barbara Frank says on page 176 "Count your blessings. Try to enjoy every stage of each child's development. Most of all, realize that someday they will be grown and gone, and you will have ten times as many memories as other moms, because you were there with them every day".

This is a book for anyone who thought that all homeschoolers were perfect and could do anything without even trying. I loved it, because this was our first year homeschooling ( middle, elementary, and preschool ), and I thought that I wasn't "doing it right".

The advice is easy, and she is in a word: realistic. You won't feel like a failure on a bad day, or like you haven't done enough on a good one. She talks to you, not at you, and she also doesn't insult your intelligence if you don't completely agree with her.

There's a great section about special needs children and how reactions to them affect the entire family, and she does it by promoting empathy not manipulative guilt. In fact, the whole book is about making you feel guilt-free while educating your children, and raising your family ( no matter how little you get done in a day ).

This book is for the rest of us who don't have families that look like, or act like the ones on the cover of homeschooling magazines. The overall message of the book is: nobody's perfect.

I'm a newbie and slightly timid (will I do it right?) homeschooler. This book was very reassuring and helpful to me. The author has years and children's worth of experience to share with those of us who are contemplating homeschooling or just starting out, and I'm sure even a veteran homeschooler would gain insights from her book. I even learned a few "Heloise-type" hints for household management that I haven't known before! The book is easy to read and rich with information. The title says it all, great title, and the right audience should find this book easily.

This is a nice little book about homeschooling. It is more like having a conversation with a veteran homeschooler than reading a handbook on the subject. I would say that it is more encouraging than informative. It certainly does contain information, mostly in the form of experience and advice, not stats or quotes from experts. I am not saying that that is bad, because it isn't, but if that is the kind of book you are looking for, then I wouldn't recommend this book.

That being said, there is a lot of wonderful and useful advice to be found in here and definitely a feeling of "I am not the only one." It also has some humorous moments. I highly recommend this book to all people looking to homeschool or parents who have been homeschooling and are looking for fresh ideas and encouragement.

I loved this book and am sure I will read it again. Barbara Frank is someone I'd like to have as a friend. The book is practical and encouraging. As she says, some homeschool books we read leave us feeling depressed, in that it seems ours are the only children who struggle in various areas and that I am the least able mother that God chose to homeschool. This book is inspirational, totally encouraging and a very easy read. It is clearly one of my absolute favourites, and I rate Barbara Frank right up there with Ruth Beechick
I rated this as 5 star (don't know why only three are showing)

Barbara Frank seeks to reassure all homeschoolers that homeschooling is possible without perfect kids, a perfect home, or being a perfect parent and teacher. She offers realistic helps in all areas and her comforting words are very encouraging. The chapters in The Imperfect Homeschooler's Guide to Homeschooling are short and very readable.

This book made me feel like I was doing alright. If you are new to homeschooling, you must read this!
Tells it like it is, explains it all. Even talks about homeschooling down syndrome child. Very informative.

It felt so good to read what Barbara Frank wrote about her experiences homeschooling. I needed to be reminded that I could do it my way, I could do it successfully, that I could do it in a relaxing, realistic manner. All I need is to remember that God blesses us and allows us to do the very things we are afraid of doing.